The Talon Saga, Book 3: Secret of the Faewood

For fourteen years, Talon has served the witch Thereya, self-proclaimed Queen of the Shadow World.  Now the witch has gained the power to break her exile and return to Nubilia.  Her ambitions are great, and she sends Talon on a quest to set her on the throne of Sorathale.

Unfortunately, Sorathale is too far away for a conventional journey.  Instead he must pass through the Faewood, enigmatic realm of magic where even the bravest of warriors fear to travel.

Then he receives word of a mysterious temptress who lives on the edge of the forest and may be willing to guide him safely through it.  But can he afford to pay the price she asks?

Caught back up(until you post again). I'm guessing Talon is a father and doesn't know it. Enjoying the story. Keep it up.

thehilz wrote:

Caught back up(until you post again). I'm guessing Talon is a father and doesn't know it. Enjoying the story. Keep it up.

That's an interesting theory.  I assume you're talking about Summer.  Now that I think of it, she would be about the right age, wouldn't she?

I can neither confirm nor deny whether your theory is correct.

By the way, I just uploaded 3 more chapters.  Enjoy!

That's and cruel way to end the book. My guess is that summer will come to talon's  rescue. now to sit around and wait lol.

thehilz wrote:

That's and cruel way to end the book. My guess is that summer will come to talon's  rescue. now to sit around and wait lol.

Heh heh heh!  In the immortal words of Bugs Bunny, "Ain't I a stinker?"

The Talon Saga is eight books, but you could make the argument that it has a broader three-act structure.  The cliffhanger ending of Book 3 marks the closure of the first act.  Talon will take on a new role in Books 4-6, then yet another new role in the last 2 books.

But don't worry; this is not the last we'll see of the characters from the first act.  He still has a quest to complete after all, so that storyline is by no means finished.  And that means the characters involved will make a return.  (And by the way, some of the minor characters in the last chapter of Book 3 will become important later in the story).

As for whether Summer will come to Talon's rescue, I can neither confirm nor deny... (I just love saying that!)

I'll start uploadiing Book 4, Dungeon of the Forgotten, on the 15th.

Daddycums wrote:

As for whether Summer will come to Talon's rescue, I can neither confirm nor deny... (I just love saying that!)

I bet you do lol. Sounds like I may have to wait a couple of books to see if my prediction is correct. Anyways thanks for the great read.

I love how this fae forest reminds me of The Enchanted Forest Chronicles.

(posted from Chapter 3: The Valley of Statues)

SilentSadist wrote:

I love how this fae forest reminds me of The Enchanted Forest Chronicles.

Hmm... I've never read those books.  I'm going to take a wild guess, however, and say that mine have more sex.

Wow. Where do I begin?

First, this was BY FAR my favorite of the three books I've read so far. The faewood was such an interesting place, and while I don't read much (any) fantasy books, the situations encountered within were incredibly interesting.

Second, SUMMER.

Alright, I got alot to say on this one.

She has the (exact) same character description as Brit, and is around the (exact) same age as when Brit first gets sexually active. In your stories where young women are involved, the lower age limit is usually 13. (excluding Amy) As I was reading I couldn't help but wonder...

Did you pick the portal to open every 7 years so that his daughter would be exactly 13 after two cycles and thus up for inclusion within your story? Was Summer the reason that the portal opened only once every 7 years? I'm really curious to hear your answer about this.

The other side of Summer, as a character, is interesting. She seems (no offense, I love your stories or else I wouldn't be commenting) more dimensional than most of your characters. She is definitely intriguing, although I suspect that it is perhaps because of my own bias towards Brit.

(Side note: to be quite frank, Brit is my favorite character you've ever created, and her romance, subsequent breakup, and reconnection with Jeff is my absolute favorite relationship you have ever crafted. I'm still slightly annoyed [wrong word, I need something softer, but I'm tired and can't figure out what it would be] you turned her into a lesbian, but that's probably me projecting onto YOUR character, which I have no right to do. However, their relationship influenced not only my own sexuality significantly, but also my own personality, probably far more than I would like to admit. It is probably what makes Allison and the Primdales hold such a special place in my heart, and why I consider it one of the best works of writing I have ever read. Alright, end side note.)

I love how complex this world is, many stories suffer from a lack of world building, and many others do not seem to utilize the world they have created effectively. However, I feel this is absolutely not a problem here. I enjoy hearing about the world just as much as the characters (and frankly I look forward to both more than the sex) and I am always curious to see what you have come up with next.

Which brings us to the dungeon of the Forgotten. Oh boy. OHHH BOY.

What a cool idea. I cannot imagine what you will do with it, but I have high hopes.

Bit of criticism:

Book I was relatively free of typos, but both in the downloaded and site stories were fraught with typos. While not really mattering, as it never obscured from the meaning, it was still slightly bothersome.

Also, you called Summer Leyli once. Having read your introduction to Book IV, this is a bit of a spoiler, though I could be wrong.

I really, really, REALLY, hope that Talon isn't quite the casanova Jeff is (was?) but I suspect he will be. I, like Lissa, find the perfection of these two characters to be a little suspicious, and while Talon may have the demon within him to temper this perfection, I only find this to make him more perfect.

For is it better to be born good, or by great effort, to overcome ones evil nature?

I would argue the latter.

All in all, thank you for this.

(posted from the Item Information Page)

Now THAT'S the kind of comment I really love to receive.

Let me reply to some of what you said.

First, I actually came up with the idea of the portal opening every 7 years before I even thought up Summer.  In modern fantasy stories, 7 is a common number for things like this (probably due to its roots in Judea-Christian mythology) so it just seemed like a natural timing.  I considered reducing it to once a year, but that was about the time I decided I wanted to give Talon a daughter, and like you said, 13 is kind of a special number for the ages of girls in my stories.  So it was partly a coincidence that it worked out like that.

I think it's interesting that you mentioned Brit.  She's also one of my favorite characters, and I found myself falling in love with her as I was writing Allison and the Primdales.  Summer and Brit are very different characters on the surface; Brit is innocent and even somewhat naive, while Summer is, frankly, kind of slutty.  But at the core they're not really that different at all.  They're both sexually curious, a little vulnerable, and attracted to men/boys who fulfill a role as a protector.  "Brave hero rescues the damsel in distress" is a theme that often appears in my stories.  And in my eyes at least, they look a lot alike.  Except the horns, of course.

Nubilia is a very complex world.  I didn't invent it for the Talon Saga.  I created it a long time ago as a playground for my fantasies.  So when it came time to write The Talon Saga, I just plopped it down in a particular historical setting in Nubilia, with most of the world building behind me.  It's true that some of my ideas for the world of Nubilia came from the Talon Saga, but mostly they flowed the other direction.  I love world building even more than I love writing.

I appreciate your criticism.  I was just so excited to start posting the stories that I didn't proofread as well as I should have, and I've already found a few embarrassing mistakes.  I've started to go back and fix these, and eventually I'll upload a corrected version here.